Pastoral Letter 138
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Peace to you all.
By God’s grace we have reached the final weeks of the year 2022 and soon we will enter into the four weeks of Advent Season, which will lead us to Christmas and New Year. We are grateful that since March we have been able to move back to normal and had our face to face services, gatherings, regular church yearly programs and on 27 November will have our much-anticipated St. Andrew’s Day Service and Luncheon with the bag pipes, the Haggis and entertainment. Please reserve your tickets.
As we have done in the previous years, once again we will collect food and Christmas gifts for Exodus foundation. Remembering and giving to the needy is a God pleasing action. So, let us be generous and give the best we can for the glory of God. Please accept our thanks in advance.
If you will not be able to join us at our face-to-face service tomorrow, you can worship with us at home. Please light a candle and follow the attached Order of Service.
Be safe and well, continue to pray, remembering those who need care, support and love and let me know if any member of the congregation that you know of needs our help and prayers.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray for our ministry here at St. Andrew’s, especially as we come closer to the end of the year with special services of Advent and Christmas.
- Pray for the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, the struggling and the stressed.
- Pray for those who are unwell and struggling with different kinds of medical issues.
- Pray for world peace and ask for God’s blessings.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Best Regards,
Krikor
MESSAGE
He Makes All Things New
Isaiah 65:17-25
The Apostles’ Creed concludes with, “I believe in the life everlasting”.
We want to live forever. That’s what everyone wants, but for many people, that could sound to be boring. After a few thousand years, we could get tired of doing the same things over and over. It might be like kids who are bored at the end of summer vacation.
A 6-year-old told a 3-year-old: “Don’t ride in the street.” The 3-year-old replied: “If I get hit by a car, I’ll just go to heaven and be with Jesus, like they say in Sunday School.” The wise 6-year-old replied: “You won’t be able to ride your Big Wheel there, and Jesus will just read your Sunday School paper to you all the time.”
If we think heaven might be a boring place, we fail to understand God’s infinite creativity, as well as the transformation God has planned for us.
C.S. Lewis, at the end of the final book of the Chronicles of Narnia, “The Last Battle,” describes everlasting life as continually developing: “The things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story…Now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
A better translation of what God has for us is Eternal Life. The emphasis is not on how long life will last, but on the quality of life. Eternal life will be forever, because it is not a life of continual decay, like life on earth, but a life that is continually being renewed.
What will eternal life with God be like?
Many people wonder what heaven will be like. We wonder saying: Will the streets be paved with gold? Will the houses have electrical appliances and electronics and internet?
Heaven is beyond our comprehension. As long as we are here on earth, we will never know exactly what heaven will be like, except what the book of Revelation tells us and as Paul describes the glory to come in 1 Corinthians 2:9, as: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” Our minds cannot comprehend the reality of heaven, because it is beyond our experience and beyond our capacity to understand. All we really know is that it will be glorious!
When the Bible gives us a vision for eternal life, it is not as much about the place as it is about the quality of life. Of course, the Bible can only speak to us in relation to our limited experience. Especially in the Old Testament, the vision of eternal life is in earthly terms.
Isaiah 65:17 gives us one of those descriptions. There are new heavens and a new earth—a new kind of universe or environment, like the present universe, but different. And that what Isaiah says about God making all things new for His people and for us.
We wonder if there will be mountains and streams, beaches and waterfalls, trees and animals and other pets. We don’t know whether there will be roses in heaven, but we can know that heaven will not be lacking in things which are beautiful to appreciate.
In Isaiah 65:18-19a there is a description of Jerusalem, which is not a place on earth, of course; it represents the dwelling place of the people of God. In Jerusalem, God’s people will be “glad and rejoice forever.” Heaven is a place where we will be happy.
There will be joy in heaven. God says: “I will rejoice…and take delight in my people.” If God will delight in His people, imagine our delight in the people who will be there with us! Our loved ones will be there, along with many others whom we will love and enjoy just as much!
Isaiah 65:19b-20 says that there will be no more sickness, suffering or death. No more pain, no more getting old and being frail, no losing our memory and abilities.
Revelation 21:4 promises: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Isaiah 65:21-23 says that life will be fair! It isn’t always fair here in this world. It will be more than fair; God will bless His people beyond what they deserve.
And according to Isaiah 65:24, we will have an intimate relationship with God. We will no longer have times when God seems far away. We won’t even have to pray, and God will answer; we will be that close.
Isaiah 65:25 is the vision of the “peaceable kingdom.” We can only imagine that quality of life, because we don’t see it on earth. It is all in the future, but we can begin to taste some of it now here in this world, regardless of the pains, challenges and sufferings.
When does eternal life begin?
Jesus said in John 5:24: “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, he has crossed over from death to life.” Jesus brought a new quality of life into the world, and He invited His disciples to begin to live as He lived.
Eternal life begins now! We can begin to experience the life Isaiah 65 described, and the life Jesus lived.
• We can have a close relationship with God. It might not be, “before they call I will answer,” but we can pray, and God will answer. We can delight in worship, have fellowship with others, discover the heart of God through His word, and see Him act.
• We can make our relationships right with Him and the people around us.
A young boy once said: “Dear pastor, I would like to go to heaven someday because I know my brother won’t be there.”
We don’t get to choose who will be with us in heaven! Now is the time to forgive and make things right. Now is the time to reconcile with others, if we can. Now is the time to affirm others and taste the joy of love. Now is the time to include others in our circle of friends, because they might be with us there.
• We can have substantial healing of the pain of the past, of bad habits and self-destructive behaviour, and self-centred anxiety. We can practice healthy living in our bodies, minds and emotions.
• We can embrace what is right and good. In 2 Timothy 4:8, Paul looks forward to the fullness of eternal life, saying: “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” It is strange that some people want to go to heaven, but don’t want to live righteous lives now. Heaven is “the home of righteousness.” (2 Peter 3:13)
• We can delight in the beauty of the earth, human beings, and ourselves. Instead of merely using things and people, we can appreciate their God-given value.
• We can see peace and justice, in the world, at work, and in our families. God’s plan for eternal life includes those who are poor, weak, powerless, and struggling.
Eternal life begins now. In fact, if we don’t begin now, it will be too late after death.
How do we receive eternal life?
Eternal life is a gift. 1 John 5:11-12 says: “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
The gift of eternal life comes through Jesus. Jesus said in John 6:40: “My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
If we are not sure about whether we will have eternal life with God, we can begin that life today! If we accept Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life, the Father will give us eternal life. Our eternal life will begin today!
Of course, if eternal life begins for us today, it might bring changes to our life. That’s what we want. The life of Jesus will take over, changing how we think, feel, and act. We won’t have to do that entirely on our own; the Spirit of Jesus will transform us, as we turn our life over to Jesus.
If we are a Christian, we have eternal life, and we want more of it. Paul encourages Timothy writing in 1 Timothy 6:11-12: “But you, man of God, flee from all this [sin], and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
We want a life of righteousness, godliness, and love. That’s what every Christian should desire for himself or herself.
We don’t have to do it on our own, however. Paul said in Philippians 3:12-14: “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
I believe in eternal life, that begins now, and reaches its fullness in eternity. It starts from the moment we decide to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour and follow Him, obeying His commandments. Then all things will be new for us through God’s grace, forgiveness and love.
And that’s what God promises to do. He speaks through the prophet Isaiah saying He will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered anymore. They will be forgotten with their sins, pains, tears, sufferings toils, hungers, sicknesses and challenges. He says, ‘never again’.
Why?
Simply because He is creating New Heaven and a New Earth. Praise God!
Amen!